Jung Won Paik's Noodle

Jung Won Paik's Noodle Busan Reviews

This is a Korean snack chain by a famous chef known as Paik Jong Won. We ordered jajangmyeon (black bean noodle) and tang su yuk (sweet and sour pork) for dinner. These two dishes are popular Korean snacks with takeaway services. Jajangmyeon and tang su yuk are originally Chinese dishes but Koreanized. Therefore, they are often categorized under Korean-Chinese cuisine.

The differences between Chinese and Korean jajangmyeon are Sichuan pepper, mince pork, mushroom along with black bean are often incorporated into the sauce for Chinese jajangmyeon whereas in Korea, only black bean and onion are used in the sauce. On the other hand, the differences between Chinese and Korean sweet and sour pork were also quite prominent. In Korea, meat was cut into strips while in China, meat was often cut into small cubes. These days, Chinese sweet and sour sauce consist of tomato ketchup, plum sauce and rice vinegar as base which gave a more orangey golden hue to the dish. In Korea, the base for sweet and sour sauce was mainly made with rice vinegar and soy sauce. Perhaps Chef Paik tried to interpret the dish as closely as possible to the original recipe using only Oriental ingredients. Tomato was never a conventional ingredient in Oriental cuisine as it was only introduced into China almost 100 years ago. This could be a possible explanation to the reason that sweet and sour sauce in China tend to be more flavorful compared to ones in Korea.

Perhaps this is a good place for jampong (spicy seafood noodle), another well-known snack among the Korean people. Usually, Koreans put great emphasis into their main meals by making sure dishes with complete nutritional values are present. Hence, it is not a surprise that food such jampong, dumpling, rice cakes, jajangmyeon, kimbap, pancake are only considered as snacks by the Korean people. There were many customers ordering jampong. Prices for one portion of noodle cost around KRW4,000 to KRW5,500 depending on variety. There is a Paik's noodle outlet in Los Angeles, United States.